English abstract
This study was a cross sectional case study that aimed to evaluate the general nutrition knowledge among Omani SQU undergraduate students and employees; and to determine the reliability and validity of the tool used. A total of 928 participants were included in this study. Participants in this study were divided to three groups: 655 students, 100 SQUH employees and 173 SQU employees. Respondents filled a self administrated questionnaire that consisted of 61 items with a total score of 117 points. The Questionnaire was used to evaluate knowledge of dietary recommendations, food /nutrient sources, food choices and diet disease relationship. The questionnaire included a section for demographic information as well. Final year nutrition students (n=51) were taken as criteria. A series of univariate analysis were used to examine the effect of demographic characteristics on nutrition knowledge levels. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used for multi-comparison among groups. All Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software package version 22.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
Test-retest reliability was assessed using paired t-test and an overall correlation coefficient (r) value of 0.90 (p=> 0.05) was obtained. The internal reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, a value (r) of 0.91 was obtained for the overall knowledge in nutrition. Nutrition students scored significantly higher than all the groups in all sections of knowledge as well as in the overall score (70.14%), (p<0.0001). A significant correlation was found between gender, year in college, being taken a nutrition related course, employment categories and overall knowledge. Both students and employees stated that internet was the most important source of diet related information.
The majority of respondents (75-88.5%) were aware of basic messages recommending eating more fruits and vegetables, less fat and less sugar. There was more confusion on the recommendations of dairy products, meats and complex carbohydrates. Most of the respondents (90%) did not know the recommended number of servings of vegetables, 50% did not know the recommended number of servings of fruits. Few respondents recognized food high or low in protein, sugar and salt. Respondents found it difficult to identify foods high or low in fiber as well as to identify healthy alternatives to red meat. Respondents were most familiar with the association of salt and fat with diseases, however, knowledge of specific diseases related to low fiber intake were poorly understood.
Serious gaps in nutrition knowledge about even the basic recommendations were identified and there were demographic variation in nutrition knowledge levels. Based on the current data, there is a need to promote health awareness at SQU.
